Transitions

Illinois Lawyer Now is happy to announce transitions for ISBA members. Please include name, position, law firm, practice areas, education information and former employer. A head shot in the JPG file format may also be included. Send information to sanderson@isba.org

Attorney Jacob J. Frost has joined Wimbiscus Law Firm, Spring Valley. Frost practices in the areas of estate/trust administration, residential and commercial real estate purchases and sales, business organizations, governmental law, and wills and trusts. Attorney Frost has served and represents clients in the Illinois Valley area.
Frost earned his law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law, with high honors in Legal Research and Writing. He received his Associate of Arts degree, summa cum laude, from Illinois Valley Community College and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was admitted to both Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Theta Kappa academic honor societies.
Attorney Frost is a member in good standing of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA). In addition, he has recently been re-appointed to the ISBA Trusts & Estates Section Council, a state-wide organization whose purpose is to propose and review new legislation impacting estate planning and administration in the state of Illinois. Frost is active in the Ottawa Sunrise Rotary Club, the Illinois Valley Area Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois Valley Estate Planning Council. He resides in Ottawa with his wife, Chrissie, a veterinarian.
He can be reached via phone at (815) 664-4151, fax at (815) 663-4351, or email at frost.wjwlaw@gmail.com or wjwlaw@comcast.net .

Lori G. Levin, former Executive Director of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority and Supervisor of the Seniors and Persons with Disabilities Division of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office announces the opening of her Law Office at 222 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 1550, Chicago, IL 60606. She can be contacted at 312-972-3756, 312-568-5495 (fax) or via e-mail at lori.levin@att.net.
Prior to opening her firm, she directed an agency dedicated to improving criminal justice statewide and oversaw an annual budget of $100 million of criminal justice research and grants. She chaired the Illinois Integrated Justice Information Systems Implementation Board, Chaired the Statewide Task Force for the Update of the Model Domestic Violence Protocol and served on the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority board, Illinois Family Violence Coordinating Council, Illinois Sex Offender Management Board, City of Chicago Mayor's Domestic Violence Advisory Coordinating Council, Juvenile Justice ReDeploy Illinois Steering Committee, Governor's Community Safety and ReEntry Working Group, Metropolis 2020's Justice Violence Advisory Council, GoTo 2040's Crime and Justice Planning Initiative Advisory Board and State of Illinois/City of Chicago Collaborative on Re-Entry Advisory Council.
As Supervisor of the Cook County State's Attorney's Seniors and Persons with Disabilities Division, Ms.

In response to the continued growth of its trademark practice, Brooks Kushman law firm announced today that it has hired Emily S. Adelman as an associate attorney.
Adelman will be responsible for counseling clients on trademark issues, managing large portfolios and supporting the enforcement needs of Brooks Kushman's trademark clients.
Most recently, Adelman served as an associate attorney at Cook Alex Ltd. of Chicago, where she focused on U.S. and international patent and trademark prosecution matters, litigation, and patent validity and infringement analyses, as well as collaborated on various papers and presentations relating to developing patent and trademark law.
Adelman earned a juris doctor degree and a Master of Laws in IP Law from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago and a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Additionally, she participated in the Pierce Law IP Summer Institute in Beijing, studying comparative IP law, and has taken courses at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
Founded in 1983 by five intellectual property (IP) attorneys, Brooks Kushman P.C. is a leading IP and commercial law firm based in Southfield, Mich. with an office in Los Angeles. Since its inception, the firm has grown to approximately 70 lawyers and patent agents, gaining a reputation both nationally and internationally as a leader in providing cutting-edge, timely and cost-effective IP counseling.

Jennifer M. Van Fossan has joined Dennis W. Fox & Associates and will be assisting with representation of Social Security Disability clients.
Van Fossan is a 2002 graduate of the University of Illinois and received her J.D. in 2005 from Southern Illinois University School of Law. She is licensed in Illinois and Missouri and has been practicing Social Security Disability law since 2005.

Registered patent attorney Rebecca McClintock Barnett has joined the law firm of Nashville, Tenn. firm of Waddey & Patterson, P.C., as an Associate. Barnett is a member of the firm's patent prosecution team. She was previously an Associate in the intellectual property practice group at Michael Best & Friedrich, LLP, Chicago, Illinois.
Barnett received her Juris Doctor from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2008. She is a 2005 graduate of the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering with a B.E. in Biomedical Engineering.
Waddey & Patterson, P.C. is a full service intellectual property law firm handling patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, and domain name related matters for its clients. For additional information, visit www.iplawgroup.com.
Illinois Lawyer Now is happy to announce transitions for ISBA members. Please include name, position, law firm, practice areas, education information and former employer. A head shot in the JPG file format may also be included. Send information to cbonjean@isba.org

Heather B. Navarro recently joined the Law Offices of Thomas E. Kennedy, III, L.C., which has offices in St. Louis and Alton.
Navarro is a recent graduate of Washington University School of Law and brings with her an enthusiasm and passion for public interest law. She has spent the past three years in private practice as a student associate, an associate attorney and a contract attorney. Prior to law school she was the Social Justice Coordinator at the Newman Center on the campus of Washington University and spent three months in Guatemala working with women and children. She is licensed to practice in Missouri and Illinois and is fluent in Spanish.
The Law Offices of Thomas E. Kennedy, III, L.C. is one of a few private law firms in the country dedicated solely to plaintiffs' civil rights, disability rights, special education law, representation of not-for-profits and public interest representation.
Illinois Lawyer Now is happy to announce transitions for ISBA members. Please include name, position, law firm, practice areas, education information and former employer. A head shot in the JPG file format may also be included. Send information to cbonjean@isba.org

The law firm of Krieg DeVault LLP is pleased to announce that Partner Randall R. Fearnow has relocated his practice to the firm's Chicago office at 33 North LaSalle Street and will assist Illinois clients in the areas of Health Care Law and Medicare and Medicaid Fraud and Abuse. Mr. Fearnow, a partner for the past nine years with Krieg DeVault, recently made the transition from the firm's Indianapolis office to Chicago in response to the firm's Midwest regional growth in health care.
Mr. Fearnow is a core member of the firm's Health Care and Governmental Affairs Practice Groups. His experience includes trials in state and federal courts and arguments on behalf of health care providers before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. He began his legal career in 1981 with the Marion County (Indianapolis) Prosecutor's Office, where he served as a deputy prosecutor responsible for trying major felonies. Since 1987 he has been active in the representation of health care providers who have become the focus of state or federal audits or investigations.
Mr. Fearnow is licensed to practice in the states of Illinois and Indiana and resides in Chicago. He will continue to serve his substantial base of health care clients with operations in Indiana.

The Woodstock law firm of Weisz Botto & Gilbert, P.C., enthusiastically announces the addition of attorney Robert V. Deters, a 2005 graduate of University of Wisconsin Law School.
Attorney Deters will concentrate his practice in criminal and traffic defense in the counties of McHenry, Boone, and Kane.
Weisz Botto & Gilbert, P.C. is a limited general practice law firm concentrating in Personal Injury, Workers' Compensation, Family Law and Criminal and Traffic Defense."

Smith, Hahn, Morrow & Floscki P.C. takes pleasure in announcing the expansion of its Oregon law office and welcomes attorney Deborah S. Maas as an associate.
Ms. Maas is a graduate of the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon. She began the practice of law in 2001 with the Bloomington office of Prairie State Legal Services, Inc., and has been in private practice the past six years. She transitions her private practice from Ronda Glenn Law Offices in Bloomington and Pontiac, Illinois. She will continue a practice of general civil law with a focus on family law matters, guardianships, probate, estate planning, civil litigation, real estate transactions and litigation.
Ms. Maas has completed both Divorce and Family Mediation Training and Supreme Court Rule 900 Training. She has been approved by the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit to serve in the capacity of a Guardian Ad Litem, Child Representative or Attorney For Child, as well as to serve as Mediator to families in need.
Smith, Hahn, Morrow & Floscki P.C. has offices in Oregon at 129 S. Fourth Street and in Byron at 131 W. Second Street. The Oregon office can be reached at (815) 732 - 6124 and the Byron office at (815) 234 - 5454.

Ungaretti & Harris LLP announced today that Litigation Partner Michael A. Ficaro has been named Chair of the firm's expanding Gaming Practice.
Illinois lawmakers recently passed legislation legalizing video lottery in the state. "This new gaming industry will distribute up to 45,000 electronic devices in bars, restaurants, and fraternal and charitable locations. That means 9,000 new licensees, plus manufacturers, distributors, and terminal operators who will all need legal counsel," said Mr. Ficaro. Lawyers in the Ungaretti & Harris Gaming Practice will work in conjunction with its Sports and Entertainment and Government groups in order to meet the needs of this rapidly expanding industry.
Mr. Ficaro is a member of the International Masters of Gaming Law and serves on the Board of Governors of the International Society of Barristers. Among his many distinctions are inclusion in: Illinois Super Lawyers every year since 2005 when he was named in the Top 100 of Illinois Super Lawyers for Litigation; Best Lawyers in America for Gaming Law (2006-2010); Gaming's Legal Eagles: A Guide to the World's Pre-eminent Gaming Attorneys; Leading Lawyers Network for Commercial Litigation, Criminal Defense, White Collar Defense, Gaming (2004-2009). Mr. Ficaro was formerly the First Assistant Attorney General of Illinois and the Chief of Criminal Division of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.